ALBERT

Description: Remote Sensing, Vol. 10, Pages 872: Mapping Urban Land Cover of a Large Area Using Multiple Sensors Multiple Features Remote Sensing doi: 10.3390/rs10060872 Authors: Jike Chen Peijun Du Changshan Wu Junshi Xia Jocelyn Chanussot Concerning the strengths and limitations of multispectral and airborne LiDAR data, the fusion of such datasets can compensate for the weakness of each other. This work have investigated the integration of multispectral and airborne LiDAR data for the land cover mapping of large urban area. Different LiDAR-derived features are involoved, including height, intensity, and multiple-return features. However, there is limited knowledge relating to the integration of multispectral and LiDAR data including three feature types for the classification task. Furthermore, a little contribution has been devoted to the relative importance of input features and the impact on the classification uncertainty by using multispectral and LiDAR. The key goal of this study is to explore the potenial improvement by using both multispectral and LiDAR data and to evaluate the importance and uncertainty of input features. Experimental results revealed that using the LiDAR-derived height features produced the lowest classification accuracy (83.17%). The addition of intensity information increased the map accuracy by 3.92 percentage points. The accuracy was further improved to 87.69% with the addition multiple-return features. A SPOT-5 image produced an overall classification accuracy of 86.51%. Combining spectral and spatial features increased the map accuracy by 6.03 percentage points. The best result (94.59%) was obtained by the combination of SPOT-5 and LiDAR data using all available input variables. Analysis of feature relevance demonstrated that the normalized digital surface model (nDSM) was the most beneficial feature in the classification of land cover. LiDAR-derived height features were more conducive to the classification of urban area as compared to LiDAR-derived intensity and multiple-return features. Selecting only 10 most important features can result in higher overall classification accuracy than all scenarios of input variables except the feature of entry scenario using all available input features. The variable importance varied a very large extent in the light of feature importance per land cover class. Results of classification uncertainty suggested that feature combination can tend to decrease classification uncertainty for different land cover classes, but there is no “one-feature-combination-fits-all” solution. The values of classification uncertainty exhibited significant differences between the land cover classes, and extremely low uncertainties were revealed for the water class. However, it should be noted that using all input variables resulted in relatively lower classification uncertainty values for most of the classes when compared to other input features scenarios.

Description: Atmospheric aerosols play a crucial role in regional radiative budgets. Previous studies on clear-sky aerosol direct radiative forcing (ADRF) have mainly been limited to site-scale observations or model simulations for short-term cases, and long-term distributions of ADRF in China have not been portrayed yet. In this study, an accurate fine-resolution ADRF estimate at the surface was proposed. Multiplatform datasets, including satellite (MODIS aboard Terra and Aqua) and reanalysis datasets, served as inputs to the Santa Barbara Discrete Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (SBDART) model for ADRF simulation with consideration of the aerosol vertical profile over eastern China during 2000–2016. Specifically, single-scattering albedo (SSA) from the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application, Version 2 (MERRA-2) was validated with sun photometers over eastern China. The gridded asymmetry parameter (ASY) was then simulated by matching the calculated top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiative fluxes from the radiative transfer model with satellite observations (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System, CERES). The high correlation and small discrepancy (6–8 W m−2) between simulated and observed radiative fluxes at three sites (Baoshan, Fuzhou, and Yong'an) indicated that ADRF retrieval is feasible and has high accuracy over eastern China. Then this method was applied in each grid of eastern China, and the overall picture of ADRF distributions over eastern China during 2000–2016 was displayed. ADRF ranges from −220 to −20 W m−2, and annual mean ADRF is −100.21 W m−2, implying that aerosols have a strong cooling effect at the surface in eastern China. With the economic development and rapid urbanization, the spatiotemporal changes of ADRF during the past 17 years are mainly attributed to the changes of anthropogenic emissions in eastern China. Our method provides the long-term ADRF distribution over eastern China for the first time, highlighting the importance of aerosol radiative impact under climate change.

Description: Atmospheric aerosols play a crucial role in regional radiative budgets. Previous studies on clear-sky aerosol direct radiative forcing (ADRF) have mainly been limited to site-scale observations or model simulations for short-term cases, and long-term distributions of ADRF in China has not been portrayed yet. In this study, an accurate fine-resolution ADRF estimate at the surface was proposed. Multiplatform datasets, including satellite (Terra and Aqua) and reanalysis datasets, served as inputs to the Santa Barbara Discrete Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (SBDART) model for ADRF simulation with consideration of the aerosol vertical profile over East China during 2000–2016. Specifically, single scattering albedo (SSA) from the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application, version 2 (MERRA-2) was validated with sunphotometers over East China. The gridded asymmetry parameter (ASY) was then simulated by matching the calculated top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiative fluxes from the radiative transfer model with satellite observations (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES)). The high correlation and small discrepancy (6–8 W m-2) between simulated and observed radiative fluxes at three sites (Baoshan, Fuzhou, and Yong'an) indicated that ADRF retrieval is feasible and has high accuracy over East China. Then this method was applied in each grid of East China and the overall picture of ADRF distributions over East China during 2000–2016 was displayed. ADRF ranges from −220 to −20 W m-2, and annual mean ADRF is −100.21 W m-2, implying that aerosols have strong cooling effect at the surface during past 16 years. Finally, uncertainty analysis was also evaluated. Our method provides the long-term ADRF distribution over East China for the first time, with highlighting the importance of aerosol radiative impact under the climate change.